Ebola vaccines have a lasting effect

TUESDAY, Oct. 30, 2018 (HealthDay News) – Three experimental Ebola vaccines trigger an immune response that lasts more than two years against the deadly disease, researchers say.

In addition to being good news for the Ebola outbreak that is spreading throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo, this success encourages research on the development of similar vaccines against others. infectious diseases, the researchers added.

In this new study, British scientists analyzed blood samples taken from healthy volunteers who had received one of three treatment regimens for Ebola more than two years ago.

The results showed that the three vaccines "still produced a strong antibody response to the disease two and a half years after immunization, which is very good news," said Katie Ewer, co-author of the vaccine. Study, Oxford University, United States. Kingdom.

The study was presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, in New Orleans.

One of the vaccines is already being used to fight the Congo epidemic that humanitarian workers are struggling to contain because it is taking place in a zone of extremely dangerous conflict. With 155 deaths already confirmed since the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the north of the country in August, fears of a cross-border epidemic are increasing and new cases are reported near the Ugandan border, The telegraph reported this week.

At the same time, the other two Ebola vaccines provide a platform for new vaccines against several other diseases that can cause epidemics, including Lassa fever, Nipah virus disease and the respiratory syndrome coronavirus of the Middle East. Orient (MERS-CoV).

"Ebola vaccination work intensifies after the epidemic in West Africa [2013-2016] has produced an explosion of vaccine development that could prepare us to fight against other infectious disease outbreaks, "Ewer said in a press release.

"This has helped policymakers and funders understand the need, and this support has helped validate new vaccination platforms, including a platform that is adaptable to a number of viral diseases," said Ewer.

Dr. Matthew Snape, co-author of the study and also Oxford, said the findings "will be invaluable in deciding on the strategy to be used to ensure sustainable protection, for example among health care workers in the affected areas. at permanent risk of Ebola outbreak ".

Snape added that "another important question is whether the persistence of this immune response can be improved by giving a" late "booster dose 3 to 4 years after the initial immunization, and we will investigate this in further work in the United Kingdom and Senegal in the next year. "

Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have more about Ebola.